After coming down from the mountain, about two hours later, Nalan Shiqi and Yun Luo arrived at the small town of Namanga on the Kenya-Tanzania border. The town was not big, but it was very busy, with many large trucks resting here.
Although Nalanshiqi and Yunluo's safari trip was undertaken by Kiboslope, they needed to change cars and drivers after entering Tanzania. You can apply for a visa on arrival at the border, which costs US$50 per person and is very fast, taking only 10 minutes. While applying for the visa, Yunluo suddenly felt dizzy and wanted to vomit.
The outdoor temperature was over 30 degrees that day, and I stayed in the car for a long time, so I probably had heat stroke. Yun Luo rested on the bench in the visa office for a while, took some Rendan, and applied some cooling oil. After 20 minutes, I felt much better, so it is recommended that you bring more anti-heat medicine.
While lying down to rest, Jamal came over to visit Yunluo and told her to drink more water and rest more, which touched Yunluo a little. Yunluo and Nalan Shiqi were reluctant to leave this middle-aged man who was responsible for his work and experienced in safari. They left each other their contact addresses and said goodbye.
The driver who picked up Lan Shiqi and Yun Luo was a young man. He looked naive and didn't talk much. To be honest, I was a little disappointed at that time.
Because Nalanshiqi and Yunluo's safari itinerary is mostly in Tanzania, and according to everyone's previous experience, Tanzanian drivers are not as good as Kenyan drivers in terms of service quality. Especially since Nalanshiqi and Yunluo met such a nice person like Jamal, Yunluo was worried that the gap would be too big in Tanzania.
It takes about an hour and a half from the border to Arusha, and the road conditions are very good. While on the road, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo found out that the driver who picked up Lan Shiqi and Yunluo was not the driver who would take Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo on safari in the next few days. He was only responsible for picking up Lan Shiqi and Yunluo to Arusha.
At about five o'clock in the afternoon, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo arrived in Arusha, the third largest city in Tanzania. Although it is the third largest city, its size is similar to that of a county town in China. The city is mostly made up of bungalows. The whole city looks very quiet, and people's pace of life is also very slow.
Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo went to exchange currency first, the exchange rate was 1:1610, and then found a telecom business hall to apply for a phone card. The phone card cost 5,000 shillings, and they recharged 20,000 shillings to apply for a 500-megabyte data package. The local network is 3G, and the Internet speed is quite fast.
The place where Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo stayed was called Impala Hotel, which was a relatively large international hotel. This hotel basically received all foreigners, a bit like the foreign-related hotels in China that were specially used to receive foreign guests decades ago. The hotel's hardware was standard, the house was a bit old, but the room was large and the hot water was very good.
After Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo settled in, they decided to go for a walk in the street since it was still light. For safety reasons, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo did not bring anything with them except some change and a card reader.
After walking on the street for half an hour, it gradually got dark, so Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo returned to the hotel. On the way back, they met two young men who took the initiative to greet Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo.
He also enthusiastically introduced Zi Yunluo and was very friendly. On the same day, I also met a 40-member Chinese team in the hotel. At that time, the restaurant was full of Chinese people. At that moment, it seemed like I was back in China.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, I met Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo's new driver Benson at the hotel entrance. Benson is a 30-year-old young man who looks very energetic and is very talkative. The first impression is very good, and the previous concerns disappeared. It takes about three hours from Arusha to Ngoro.
The road condition is not very good, and the new road is being built, which makes the already difficult road even more bumpy and dusty. However, the new road will be completed soon, and then everyone should be much more comfortable when going to Ngoro.
At around 11:00 am, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo arrived at the gate of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. There were not many people there, and monkeys would occasionally wander around the gate.
The driver explained to Nalanshiqi and Yunluo how the Ngorongoro Conservation Area got its name: Ngorongoro is pronounced as gelonggelong, which means "gelonggelong". The Maasai people have always lived in this area, and their cattle have bells on their necks, which make the sound of "gelonggelong" when they walk, hence the name.
Today's itinerary is mainly to go to the Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is fertile with water and grass all year round. Animals do not need to migrate, so animals are more concentrated in this area, and it is easier to spot beasts such as lions. More importantly, the scenery here is so beautiful that it is like a fairyland.
I was attracted by the pictures of the crater in the morning taken by others. I wanted to stay at Ngorongorowildlifelodge at the top of the crater. The room there overlooks the whole crater, which is quite magnificent! But I had to give up the place reluctantly because of the budget. (Many friends who have been there said that the price-performance ratio is not high).
Attached are a few photos I took, but they don’t show even one-tenth of the real beauty, so please just make do with them.
There are indeed many animals in the crater, and here Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo finally saw lions! Unfortunately, these guys were sleeping lazily, not even raising their heads, which was really disrespectful. Finally, I found out from watching Animal World that lions rest for more than 20 hours a day. It seems that this state is normal for them.
I didn't go to Nakuru specifically to see flamingos, but I didn't expect there were so many in the crater, but it was too far away. Flocks of flamingos are really spectacular! Benson explained to Yunluo that the reason why flamingos are red is because of the food they eat. If flamingos are placed in China, they will be white. How magical!
It is important to remind you that you need to buy a separate ticket to enter the crater, which costs $200 per car and takes 6 hours, so you must manage your time well. Make sure you use it enough but don't exceed the time limit, otherwise you will need to pay another $200! Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo entered at around 12 o'clock that day.
We played until almost 5pm and started to rush to the hotel. The driver was so fast along the way that we arrived at the crater gate at around 5:30pm. Benson said one sentence at that time: Wearesafe!
At night, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo stayed at Rhinolodge, which is not far from the crater. This hotel cannot see the crater and is not very large, but the price/performance ratio is quite high. It is also very cozy. This hotel is open-style, without fences or anything. The balcony of the room where Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo stayed is directly connected to the outside. Isn't it exciting?
There was a big bird at the entrance of the hotel. I saw many of them later in Serengeti, but I forgot what it was called.
I especially recommend their restaurant, which is very beautiful and the food is delicious. There is a green soup, I don't remember the name. It is very delicious, Yunluo drank several bowls. This is also the only place where Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo ate with the driver during the safari. Nalan Shiqi, Yunluo and Benson talked a lot in the evening.
It is about politics, culture, education, customs and many other aspects of the two countries. Benson is a Maasai. His father is very rich. He married nine Naransekhi and sold cattle to support him to go to college. Now he has a job and buys cattle for his family. Benson is also a person who cares about his country and his people. Because the Maasai are not allowed to hunt and farm in the reserve.
So their only source of income is the fees paid by tourists visiting their villages. But for those places far away from the road, where tourists don't go, some Maasai will starve to death. When talking about this, tears filled his eyes.
He also talked about the politics of their country. He felt that the country was very corrupt now. The president didn't care about the lives of the people and only wanted to make money for himself. Many people hoped to promote political reform through war. At this point, Yun Luo realized that Tanzania had never fought a war since its founding.
Here is a particularly interesting piece of history. In the 1960s, the entire Africa was swept by the national liberation movement. Tanzania was a British colony at the time, and their founding leader Nyerere led everyone to independence. But their independence was peaceful. In Benson's original words.
At that time, Nyerere went to the Queen and said that he wanted independence. Seeing that the situation could not be stopped, Elizabeth asked: "Can you feed your people?" Nyerere said firmly that he could, and Britain signed an agreement to agree to Tanzania's independence. After a while, the Tanzanian government found that it could not handle it, so it asked China for help.
China selflessly provided them with a lot of food. Yunluo told Benson that China was actually very poor at that time, and they couldn't even get enough to eat, but they still saved money to support their African brothers! Finally, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo wished that China-Africa relations would last forever!
During the period, Benson asked Yunluo how many people there were in China, and Yunluo told him that it was nearly 1.4 billion. The young man's expression collapsed at that time, and he asked Yunluo three times, "Are you sure you are right!?" He simply couldn't imagine what this number meant, as the entire Tanzanian population was only about 40 million.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
At this point, Yun Luo quickly continued what he had just said about the issue of war, saying that peace is better. China has experienced many wars, and the wars are very cruel. During World War II alone, the Japanese killed 37 million Chinese people.
(Yunluo said this on purpose to let the people of the world know that the Japanese are not as polite and well-mannered as they seem, they are beasts at heart!) Benson was shocked after hearing this, this number far exceeds the number of people who massacred their entire country.
The room was still a little cold at night. There was a western-style fireplace in the room. If needed, you can ask the waiter to light it up. It burned large pieces of wood. I originally planned to light the fireplace, but I felt it was not safe. It would be bad if I got carbon monoxide poisoning in Africa. However, the blanket of the hotel was quite thick, and I slept soundly at night.
Today's itinerary is to go to Ndutu in Ngorongoro, which is the border between Ngorongoro and Serengeti. In February and March every year, a large number of animals gather here, especially wildebeests, who will come to this place specifically to give birth to their young. Benson said that when wildebeests are about to give birth, they can hold back for up to two weeks.
When they first arrived at Ndutu, they met a few Maasai boys wearing black clothes and white stripes on their faces. The driver said this was a ceremony for Maasai men to become adults.
When they are about to reach adulthood, they will dress like this. After three months, they will be adults and can get married, work, etc. These three teenagers are brothers. Yunluo took a photo with them and gave each of them one dollar as a tip.
Arriving at Ndutu, Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo realized that the animals they had seen in the past few days were not many at all. There were quite a lot of them here! There were wildebeests, gazelles and zebras everywhere. Moreover, the cars here basically drove inside the grassland, so they were closer to the animals.
Deep in Ndutu is a low forest, which is where Yunluo feels the most comfortable safari. The car shuttles through the forest, and there are low acacia trees everywhere. Animals run around you, which is completely different from the safari on the endless grassland.
When Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo were on safari, they were surprised to find a young wildebeest that had just died on a tree next to them. This should be the trophy that the jaguar had hunted not long ago. If Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo were not in a hurry, they could hide and wait for the jaguar to come back.
Sure enough, when Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo passed by here again on their way back, the little wildebeest had disappeared. Although Nalan Shiqi and Yunluo saw jaguars in Serengeti later, they were very far away. Nalan Shiqi regretted not sticking with it this time.
The place for lunch was at ndutulodge. Although it was not next to the lake, the lakeshore could be seen from a distance from the restaurant, and the scenery was in full view. Here, Yunluo finally understood why the lakemask tent hotel located by the lake was so expensive.
After lunch, Nalanshiqi and Yunluo had to return the same way, out of Ndutu and into the Serengeti. On the way back, it started to rain heavily. The driver said that Nalanshiqi and Yunluo were really lucky. If they had encountered this heavy rain earlier, Nalanshiqi and Yunluo would not have been able to go deep into the forest of Ndutu. (To be continued...)